Competitions

As we enter 2016 Cocoon Ibiza, brainchild and musical outlet of techno guru Sven Väth, will be entering its 17th season. Based at the long-standing Balearic club Amnesia, Cocoon will be making the island dance every Monday for 6 months straight, starting with a colossal opening party on 30th May.

The Cocoon brand is more than just an event, and has gone on to become an institution at the forefront of electronic music; with label ‘Cocoon Recordings’, Sven compliments his series of club nights in Ibiza and worldwide, alongside the iconic Cocoon in The Park festival.

This month, the long awaited line up for Cocoons mega season has announced, and without further ado, let’s see which turntable titans will be gracing the decks, shaking their stuff with the glamorous Cocoon dancers…

Of course, the man behind it all Sven Väth will be readily stamping his signature sound throughout the event and will be taking over the main room all night long on various dates throughout the 19-week season, with 15 appearances set in total.

Other long running stalwarts of electronica have been invited backincluding Richie Hawtin, Scuba, Joris Voovn, Ricardo Villalobos, Adam Beyer, Dubfire and Craig Richards. Villalobos and Beyer will be playing for 6 shows, with many other artists also coming back for repeat performances throughout the season.

Ibiza regular tINI will be gracing the terrace early on in the season alongside Danah Ruh, whilst cocoon favourite Butch takes over the main club.

Âme will be performing live to close off the month of June, with tINI joining again with another much loved Ibiza regular, wAFF. Other live performances can also be seen from the mighty KiNK and Gaiser too, in the opening party.

Nina Kraviz will be bringing her warped out acidic beats with Sven Väth in the club in July, whilst the terrace gets minimal with Ricardo Villalobos and Zip. Other huge names include Berhain maestro Ryan Elliott, Raresh, Rødhåd, Mono le Tough and DJ Koze – to name just a few.

Already the acts on offer are a jaw-dropping snippet into what is in store for the whole season, and the full line-up can be seen here.

On 30th May, Cocoon Ibiza will be holding its grand opening party for the season with lineup:

Meoko is offering the chance for one lucky reader to gain a guestlist spot +1 to the opening fiesta, alongside a CD mixed by Daniel Strefanik, 1 Cocoon tote bag and stickers to make the musical memories live on beyond the party.

To stand a chance to win, send an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with "Cocoon GO" as the subject title. Good luck!

Intrinsic is a truly unique event concept, called into existence by of a group of like-minded individuals who – instinctively and very heart-felt – single-handedly created a multi-sensuous experience that offers a stand-out vision of electronic music. In order to be able experiment freely and intuitively with sounds, visuals, space, and possibilities, its makers came up with something of great depth, and deepness.

Now in its second edition, Intrinsic‘s presentation and production is evolutionary: It is a hand-crafted voyage into the unknown, full of moments of “improvisation, unusual sound structure, sound effect and instrumentation” – innovative and unusual, to say the least.

intrinsic

ɪnˈtrɪnsɪk/

belonging naturally; essential.

"access to the arts is intrinsic to a high quality of life"

Whilst its original ideas – to create an event where artists are encouraged to “enhance their spirit and go beyond their imagination by offering them the freedom to experiment and explore” – were transported into a state of transcendence, very much in the vain of an experimental festival, its character is that of ultimate intimacy, with only a few hundred people being able to actively participate in this experience where a “spiritual atmosphere” closes the gap between artists and audience, space and time, sound and visuals.

In a disused powerstation – encountering the right location by chance was of paramount importance and led to the actual creation of Intrinsic – which hovers on the shores of a lake, space, light and darkness set the scene whilst the architechtural structures become the backbones of the projections of visual artist COTE whose art has morphed into a vital ingredient of this project.

The Romanian, together with his visual collective Videogram, has pushed the boundaries of CAD-inspired 3-D-like projections that transform space into a canvas and the locations of his performances into real-time canvasses of spiralling cosmic creation. Staying clear of alluring and all-assuring force-fed visual imagery he approaches the mind with unparalleled subliminality. Innovation and simplification of themes are COTE’s core items during this Intrinsic expedition. (Make sure you check back here on Meoko soon to read a full interview with Intrinsic resident COTE).

In an unrivalled and previously unknown approach to offering the aural space to artists who feel similarly inclined to push the boundaries of exploring the “dead-ends of sound”, this free improvisation of a collective trip is far from a one-way journey into the clichees of the unknown. It is a serious and ongoing and above all honest approach to not being different from the indifferent sound of no distinction, but also just giving way to a real quest: making interesting art of real value.

In Intrinsic’s first edition, Praslea and Cezar aka AFUMATI were not only surrounded with “people who lifted their creation higher”, but also anticipated the power of creation and pushing it to a new level – by leaving behind safe comfort zones of previously tried and tested sounds – they and the crowd collectively entered the uncharted territories of true experimentation while being lifted by heated floors that invited people to float away on them.

In this new edition, E/TAPE has been found to be the next guardian of dalliance. This rare species of a sound welding artist resides in Ibiza, only plays a few handpicked gigs a year, and is a cosmic mind affair truly out of this world. So how will he react on this spacial cross-breading with COTE’s visuals? And the crowd’s prosperous whisper? Only we will know, as we are all Intrinsic.

Setting the scene is resident GYORGY ONO, a Georgian sound artists who recycles found sounds and experiments with fragmentation to make a solemn yet adventuous world of his own. He invites Intrinsic to follow him wander the outer scapes of imagination, with closed eyes.

So who is behind this? Some of the most amazing, humble people in the electronic music scene, fuelled by desire to explore its deepness. Their cultivated understanding and sensitivity about this culture became a mission: to protect and maintain the unique feeling by creating a spiritual connection between all partaking people, and creating a community.

MEOKO is proud to be a media partner of such a unique concept and is offering one lucky person the chance to win two tickets to this truly amazing event. To win, simply email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with 'ART" as the subject heading.

The after party of the LWE New Years Day 2015 at the Tobacco Dock will be held in the Renaissance rooms. Maya Jane Coles has lined up a very special back-to-back-to-back showcase with three of the finest artists on the international circuit combining for the first time. They not only belong to the top of electronic music, but these three masterminds are also girls, which makes this performance even more exciting. Together with the already legendary Maya Jane Coles, Heidi and Kim Ann Foxman will play for the first time in unison on the evening of New Years Day. Prepare for an unprecedented collaboration!

This after party is organized by LWE. This stands for London Warehouse Events, which was established in July 2010 when two individuals, Will Harold and Paul Jack, found a breath-taking venue, the Great Suffolk Street warehouse, to put on a Pryda night with Eric Prydz, Gui Borrato and Popof. Later, Alice Favre joined this amazing squad to be a director and subsequently LWE parties were born. The blueprint for these events consists of tree characteristics. To start with they found different unique locations, secondly they provide an enormous sound system and lastly they always equip the line-up with world-class talent. Some of the unusual locations their events take place are the Tobacco Dock, the Renaissance rooms and Village Underground. Besides their charming locations, they present an infinite range of styles to their events such as House, Electronica, Dubstep, Techno and Drum & Bass to Electro and everything in between.

THE LINE-UP

Like stated before, the line-up will be headlining three of the most exciting artists of today: Maya Jane Coles, Heidi and Kim Ann Foxman. They will be colliding their individual influences and inspirations together for one night of tag-team mayhem. For those who do not knew Maya Jane Coles, she is an omnipotent female sound engineer, even able to design her own sleeve artwork. She is since the mid 2000s the most promising and rising star in the deep house scene. Today she already released some of her astonishing music on labels such as Mobilee, Dogmatik Records and 20:20 Vision. Besides that, she is a gifted DJ that she already repeatedly proved in clubs and festivals all over the world and on mix series like fabric and Resident Advisor.

Furthermore, British Heidi has worked hard over the past decade to make her mark on the new house and techno music generation. You only have to visit her worldwide brand of Jackathon parties or listen to her BBC Radio 1 show to experience her passion for music and fiery nature.

Former singer of the neo-disco collective Hercules and The Love Affaire, Kim Ann Foxman will be the third girl behind the decks. She stepped away from singing to return to her fundamental passions, which are rocking clubs as a DJ and producing raw electronic music. Channeling such a revived focus she also unleashed a brand new record label Firehouse in a promising collaboration with London based music and art label The Vinyl Factory.

On top of that there'll be an extended set from the Swiss DJ, Deetron, whose fusion of moody techno and soulful house has put him at the top of fan’s bucket lists. He has released on labels such as Intec, Music Man and Ongaku.

LWE also called on the very capable hands of Dense & Pika to join in on the action. This techno duo emerged in 2011 with a series of handstamped white-label releases and will now deliver the audience a stunning extended set.

Max Wing, Brendan Long and many more DJ's will be added to this unforgettable night.

THE VENUE

This incredible party will take place in the Renaissance Room, more known for its roller disco nights, which will off course not take place on New Years Day. The address is Miles Street, London SW8 1RZ, but it is just a short walk from the Vauxhall Station.

FULL INFO

Thursday 1 January 2015

22:00 - 06:00

Maya Jane Coles X Heidi X Kim Ann Foxman

Deetron

Dense & Pika (Extended set)

Wax Wings

Brendan Long

& more

Venue: Renaissance Rooms, Miles Street, London SW8 1RZ

As part of our regular competition series, Rebel Butterfly has kindly offered some great prizes for one lucky Meoko reader:

1x Vinyl copy of Maya Jane Coles ‘From The Dark’ EP on mobilee

1x Vinyl copy of Kim Ann Foxmann ‘It’s All About You’ - out on Firehouse (fist release from her label)

As the winter months begin to dawn upon us, we are reminded it is not long until Christmas, a time known for mulled wine, roast dinners, John Lewis adverts and most importantly for the tradition of giving back to loved ones…

At MEOKO we are not one to miss out on this joyous spirit, and so we have been busy behind the scenes assembling a huge prize package consisting of contributions from some of our favourite brands and labels. Consider it our way of saying thank you for all your support.

Everything from festival and club tickets to a stay at a boutique hotel, flight vouchers, NOT to mention a tonne of vinyl, CDs, clothing and other goodies to warm your cockles - we’ve got it all covered! The prize package has a combined value of well over £1500! And one lucky reader will win it all. The saying “You’ve got to be in it, to win it” has never rung more true.

We have been itching to make this competition announcement so here’s how you can enter in three simple steps*:

In our latest Art of Sound episode, where we list our favourite albums and EPs based on music and art work, we showcased Chris Carrier’s True Step Locomotion. Intrigued by who was behind the amazing artwork, we scouted out artist Allan René to give us the low down on how he transforms a painting into a record sleeve. Part of the SlapFunk “crew”, Allan designed cover art, a flyer and stage background for the record label and its events. SlapFunk is a record label seriously worth noting with exciting releases from artists such as Larry De Kat, Malin Genie and Chris Carrier. Both SlapFunk and Allan are based in Utrecht, where they originally met and embarked on their artistic careers. While the guys over at SlapFunk started their musical escapades, Allan worked on his art. He holds a strong DIY ethos and is not afraid to show it with his “Fuck Your Gallery”, a type of bandcamp for art initiative, where works are sold directly to buyers without relying on intermediaries like galleries (as the name blatantly suggests). He has also opened his own clothing label, Bangladash, with its famous tag line, “Stay Humble, Smoke Loud”. Find out more about this talented and outspoken individual in our following interview…

Can you give me some background information about yourself? Where are you originally from? You look like you could be mixed, and some of your paintings have an Asian theme to it (i.e. Muy Thai, Noodles, chinese characters, BangladAsh).

I’m born and raised in Utrecht, the Netherlands. My dad is Dutch, but my mom is from the Philippines. So yeah I’m double blooded.

Maybe not always intentionally but still I find it important to counter the lack of Asian influences in western Pop culture. I think Asian or eastern culture is underrepresented in western pop culture, so I’m doing my part to shine (a little) more light on it. Although everything I make is in a way a reflection of myself. Logically you will find a lot of Asian influences because that’s a big part of me.

Your art could be seen as quite controversial. Do you take influences from graffiti art?

Yes I do, but not really. I find most graffiti not that controversial. I’m more influenced by street art, but if that’s considered graffiti than yeah you’re right. Although I like Fuck the gallery’s type of attitude: We don’t need a gallery or museum to express ourselves to the world.

What influences your art?

My biggest influence is mainly pop culture. Music, movies, fashion and the culture around it. Also classics are always a big influence. I always seem to be looking for some classic shit to insert into my artworks. Shit that’s recognized by certain people and makes them feel a type of way.

The theme of music is very present in your artwork. How important is music for your work and yourself?

Music is life right.. I mean everything in this universe is a frequency. So yeah for me music is very important. I always play music when I paint and of course I enjoy going out, festivals and all that. Music inspires, gets people together, relaxes the mind, gives people a voice. It’s life.

What makes you attracted to hip hop music? Is it the lyrics?

I like hip hop because of the aggressiveness, the go getter mentality that goes with it. It can be very motivational for me. And I’m a fan of the culture and all the ridiculousness that comes with it.

I like the attitude that comes with listening to hip hop. I ride on my bike faster when I listen to hip hop, I train harder when I listen to hip hop.

How did you come to design and create the cover art work for SlapFunk?

Slapfunk are my homies. We all know each other for almost 15 years now. We all represent the same tribe from Utrecht so we’re basically all brothers. All those years while they were doing their music thing, I was trying to do my art thing. So eventually when it was time to get someone to do some art for their label, I guess it was a organic thing to ask me for some stuff.

Your personal pop art is somewhat different to the paintings you made for SlapFunk. Can you describe the main differences between this work and your personal work?

Everything I make for myself is meant for me to like and is a pure reflection of me and my choices. When I make something for Slapfunk it has to be a reflection of them, the artist, and myself as well. So it’s not just what I would like, but also what they would like to see in the artwork or concept. It makes it a little more difficult because ultimately my choices have more effect than on just myself. My own art I make for myself, I may not hang it in my house, but I paint like that’s the purpose. When I do a cover it’s meant to satisfy the label, the artist, the buyers and myself at the same time. So it’s kinda different, but that makes it cool to do.

You turn commercial objects into art by reproducing them on a painting, and you turn your paintings into commercial objects (records to sell) for SlapFunk. Was this intentional?

I’m intrigued by art that isn’t supposed to be art. So I like to make stuff that isn’t supposed to be a painted onto a canvas and hung on a wall. And I also like it the other way around, making a record cover as an actual painting that you can hang in your office. I guess I like the contrast. Or the unconventional approach to making stuff.

How do you come up with album cover designs for SlapFunk? What do you consider when designing a cover? Do you take into account the music? Do you collaborate with the artist?

It’s always a collaboration. Sometimes between the label and me and sometimes between the artist and myself. There’s always a lot of communication in the decision making of the actual concept. When the concept is clear on both ends, they’ll take their hands of the project and I get to do my thing and convert the concept into an painting and after that into an actual cover. I do that by just trying to find out what works for me along the way. Nobody knows what the cover is going to look like until it’s finished.

What techniques do you use when designing album covers?

I mostly paint on wood with acrylic paint, make pictures of the painting, and fine tune that image into the actual cover ready image with Photoshop and an online editing program I must keep for myself.

What design are you making for Anil Aras’ newest release, ‘Slapcity’?

I’m doing a portrait of him in front of the pride of Utrechts called: De Domtoren (The Domtower). He came to me with this idea and a couple examples of the style he was looking for. So the concept was already made up and I did the rest. It’s not my everyday style but that’s fun for me. Playing around with different styles. I’m still working on it but I will finish it soon. I guess the release will be out in a couple of months or so. So get excited for that one.

You have a clothing brand called “Bangladash”. Can you describe to me your brand’s concept? What do the Chinese characters mean? What does Bangladash Stay Chiefin mean? What is the smokers club?

With BANGLADASH I’m trying to build a brand that puts some positive energy into this world and represent a different kind of lifestyle. I guess if a bunch of hippies would make street wear, something like BANGLADASH would come out. All the designs have a deeper meaning and are meant to inspire, educate and effect people positively. We have a couple of design and this Stay Chiefin Smokersclub shirt is one of them.

With this particular tee we want to represent our smokers out there that smoke cannabis with a conscious mind, respect the herb and feel a deeper connection with this plant, beyond smoking just for a laugh.